Deliverance
by JammyWammy
Summary: [HIATUS] An alternate take on the original game where Cloud met Barret and Aerith first when he joined AVALANCHE. He found himself being attracted to the flower girl but things get complicated for him when another member of the rebel group appears, and it happened to be his lost childhood friend who he thought had died long ago. Cloud x Tifa but also some Cloud x Aerith.
1. Sleep walkers

A/N: Those who had only seen the movie and not played the game, Cloud is not OOC here, he was a cocky and an arrogant jerk in the beginning of the game, then a playful and funny one as the game progresses because of Zack's traits and his own personality (See Crisis Core). I know, I know, he gives us all a headache specially how he turned out in Advent Children after all the events had occured in the past and Geostigma being the last straw for him to sunk into depression and turn into a such a gloomy but smexy man.

Final fantasy and its characters is solely owned by Square-enix (Formerly Squaresoft).

 **Chapter one**

Mako blue eyes snapped open along with a slight gasp of breath, he knew he was dreaming but he had forgotten it and he knew it was not the reason why he was woken up. He listened intently to his surroundings and it made his eyebrows furrow when he finally realized what had what had greatly disturbed him from his deep slumber.

 _What the...?_

He could hear Barret's loud and pressumably angry voice downstairs, he looked at the clock on the nightstand with squinted eyes, it was fifteen minutes before six in the morning. He groaned then heard the door slamming shut downstairs, it was so loud that the items in his nightstand waggled a little.

 _Someone's being hormonal. Maybe it's his time of the month._ He thought with a sigh.

Let us start with that thought first. When someone would look at him, the blonde, spiky haired him, whom you would mistaken as a chocobo when his head would be peeking a little from a fence or a low brick wall, and his most of the time stoic face that looked like he doesn't give a crap in the world, one would think that Cloud Strife 'doesn't know that kind of stuff'. Wrong. Being stuck with sexually deprived males in his time with Shinra Electrical company when he was joining SOLDIER had taught him things that he hadn't intended to learn, be it an accidental eavsdropping from the group of guys discussing women and their bodies from the next table at lunch or his bunkmates taking turns in talking about their sexual encounters, which most of them, Cloud pressumed, were lies, he had even learned about things he didn't know existed and was being done that had him questioning if they were some kind of animal or something.

Cloud let out a frustrated sigh while he still lied on his back in the bed. He still wanted to sleep but Barret's morning tantrum made sure that he wouldn't be able to go back. He rubbed his face with a sigh then scratched his head lazily. He slowly sat up and looked around sleepily while he smacked his dry lips together, then slowly slid his leg down the edge of the bed before he stood up to get his towel hanging on the back of the door to take his shower. He hung the towel on his shoulder before he opened the door to go to the single bathroom that they all shared at their home in the Sector seven Midgar slums.

Seventh heaven, that was the name of the place he's been staying in, it was a bar and a home at the same time. He first ended up there weeks ago when he found the place while he was wondering about in the Midgar slums, he was exhausted, weak and didn't have any money, so he decided to go in and sit down for a while. But as soon as he entered the door, a big gun arm was directly in his chest, it's owner eyed him with eyes filled with fury and hatred. It took him by surprise momentarily before he composed himself with all his might and glared back at the large man. He remembered how their conversation went.

 _"Who the fuck are you?" Barret asked him coldly._

 _"And why should I tell you?" He responded in equal coldness, trying to act normal when in reality, he wanted to fall over like a a heavy sack of rice that's been left alone in a corner and lost it's balance, all from hunger, thirst and exhaustion. He raised an eyebrow instead,, Barret did the same._

 _"Who do you think you are marchin' down in 'ere, with your with your pretty face and SOLDIER uniform and shit?!" He exclaimed as he pushed his gun arm more to the blond's chest who didn't flinch._

 _"So what if I'm wearing the uniform? What is it to you?" He said in monotone. "And you sounded so gay just now in case you didn't notice." He said with an arrogant smirk. Barret pressed the gun arm further._

 _"Shut your hole chocobo head!" Cloud's eye twitched. It was Barret's turn to smirk. "And because I fuckin' hate Shinra and everyone involved with it, Tha's why." Barret said._

 _"I'm not with Shinra anymore, I'm just a mercenary now." Cloud said then gripped the cold metal of Barret's gun arm while he still stared at him with cold blue eyes. "Get this away from me or you'll regret it." He said which pissed Barret more._

 _"You fucker!"_

 _"Barret!" A woman with brown hair tied in a ponytail with a red bandana on her forehead approached them. They both looked at her as she came nearer. "What's going on?" She asked as she eyed Cloud._

 _"This guy from Shinra! Tha's what's goin' on!" Barret said as he tugged his gun arm from Cloud's grip. "But he said he ain't workin' with them anymore and he's just a mercenary, do you believe him Jessie?" He asked the woman named Jessie who continued to eye Cloud._

 _"I don't see why not?" She said as she crossed her arms in front of her. Barret stared at her in disbelief._

 _"Are ya fuckin' kiddin' me girl?!" He yelled spraying saliva like a shower head while Jessie glared at him._

 _"Marlene is just in the kitchen, you wouldn't want her to hear you cursing, do you?" She asked while she raised an eyebrow. Barret sighed then rubbed his face with his normal hand. "Besides we can use his help." She said again as she approached the blond, who furrowed his eyebrows at her words. "A mercenary huh? We'll give you a job if you promise to behave." She said with a smirk._

 _"I hope his pretty boy face has nothin' ta do with this." Barret told Jessie as he made his way towards the kitchen which made Jessie blush furiously._

 _"Idiot. Of course not." She responded while she looked away blushing. Then Cloud's stomach growled loudly which made Jessie look at him in surprise. He still wore his blank look but a blush was slowly growing on his cheeks._

 _"I bet you're hungry." She said after a few seconds of silence._

 _"...no shit."_

Cloud chuckled while warm water was running down his bare body, he gently ran his hands on his hair, his face upwards to meet the water coming out from the slightly rusting shower head. Today was the day that they were going to bomb the Sector 1 reactor and he was clearing his mind for the mission.

When Jessie said that they were giving him a job, he never thought that she would ask him to be part of their eco-terrorist group named AVALANCHE, a group set out to go against Shinra electrical company and their corrupt ways on providing energy source using mako, the liquified form of the planet's lifestream which was being extracted using their reactors, and it was destroying the planet slowly in the process.

Cloud turned the valve of the shower to stop the running water and proceeded to dry himself with a towel. He then wrapped him lower half before he went out the door, bumping into Jessie who was carrying a basket full of clean laundry.

"Oops, sorry." She said looking down to see her way over the pile of clothes, Then her eyes widened when she saw a white towel on the floor and it was when a masculine hand grabbed the towel hastily that had her walking away while letting out a tiny scream of horror. Cloud swallowed after he put back the towel on then went back to his room to get dressed in his SOLDIER uniform.

 _Good thing she didn't see my thing though._ He thought with a blush of embarassment. Once he was done, he went downstairs to get something to eat, he went straight to the fridge and opened it, he rested his forearm on the edge on the fridge door while he scanned the contents inside, his stomach growling slightly, but his vision was blackened when someone covered his eyes from behind and it made him smile when he heard a giggle. He held his gloved hand over to hers then put it down to turn around and smile. Green eyes glint mischievously as she giggled behind her fingers.

"Aerith, what are you doing here so early?" He asked with an amused look. He had met her when he was wondering around in the slums before Barret took him in, she was selling flowers by a corner and she asked him if he wanted to buy a flower from her but he declined because he didn't have any money. She teased him at how a handsome guy like him who could have a girl working and providing for him with just one look didn't have money. They both laughed at her joke and they clicked instantly after that, he would go to Aerith's spot whenever he can but when he started to stay in Seventh heaven, she was the one who was always visiting him, and eventually,she knew that it was also the hide out and headquarters for AVALANCHE, she too had expressed her dislike for the tyrannical company for reasons she didn't disclose.

"I got bored! Plus, I wanted to see you." She said with a sweet smile. He smirked then ruffled her bangs. "Hey!" She exclaimed while she giggled as he closed the fridge door and made his way towards the dining table where a sandwich was sitting. "Oh, I asked mom to make that." She said as she trailed behind him. "That's for you." He looked at her with a small smile.

"Thanks." He said, totally grateful of his blessing.

"What? No sandwich for me?" Wedge said as he made his way to the kitchen, yawning loudly. "Jessie! Make some breakfast will ya?" He yelled as he buried his face inside the fridge just like Cloud before.

"Oh do it yourself!" Jessie yelled back that made Wedge scoffed.

"Wish Feefee was here already..." Wedge mumbled. Cloud raised an eyebrow while Aeris tilted her head to the side.

"Feefee?" The flower girl inquired. Wedge looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, well I guess nobody mentioned anything but we have another member who is currently away to get new weapon supplies." He said as he pulled out a box of cold pizza to heat up. "She's our best fighter at the moment."

"She?" Cloud asked as he munched on his sandwich.

"Well, yeah. From what I heard from Barret, she'll be back tonight." He said while he placed a pizza in a saucer. "I wish she would come home already because," He cupped his hands in front of his mouth."I can't stand anymore of Jessie's cooking!" He yelled upwards which Aerith giggle and Cloud chuckle.

"Shut the hell up!" Jessie yelled back down which made Wedge cackle.

"What was that casserole last night? It looked like it came out from badly produced horror movie, with rubbery tentancles and shit?" He yelled again which made Cloud chuckle again.

"Then starve to death you ass!" Jessie yelled back angrily while Wedge cackled.

"Why was Barret being loud so early?" Cloud asked irritably, remembering how he was so cruelly denied of the deep sleep he hasn't had for a while as he munched on his food. Wedge shrugged.

"Biggs sleep walked to Barret's room and decided to cuddle with him, when Barret felt him all over his body, he cursed out loud which awoken Biggs and it is not recommended for someone sleep walking to be woken up suddenly so Biggs started to yell while he was on top of Barret, strangling him and shit." He said casually while Cloud and Aerith raised their eyebrows.

"That's..." Cloud said. "I don't know how to feel about that."

"Good thing Marlene sleeps in Jessie's room." Aerith said. Then she giggled when she imagined it it all happening.

"I've been telling Barret to lock his door but he never listens." Wedge said.

Cloud stood up after eating to go out for a while.

"Where are you going?" Aerith asked him.

"Just out."

"Can I come with you?" She asked.

"Uhh.. Yeah sure." He said as he scratched the back of his neck which made Aerith giggle, then she clung unto his arm before she dragged him away outside the door,surprising him. While they were walking about, or in his case, stumbling, someone caught Cloud's attention, a young girl with long raven colored hair was talking animately at her friend, she reminded him of someone he knew long ago and it made his brows furrow.

"Cloud?" Aerith inquired with her brows raised. "Something wrong?" He smiled slightly then ruffled her bangs.

"Nothing." He lied. Then he looked back at the girl. "Nothing at all..." He said quietly that only him could hear.


	2. My brain hurts

**Chapter two**

The night has come and their mission was about to commence, Barret gave them another briefing before they all head out to go to Reactor 1.

They captured a train to get inside the Reactor grounds, once the train pulled in to the station, Cloud, Barret, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge jumped down from the train and started to knock down a few soldiers stationed at the flatform. Cloud used his Buster sword to cut his way through. Barret called over for them to follow him towards the entrance of the reactor.

"Alrigh', everyone knows what ta do. And you spiky, please keep your focus up ahead! You look dazed as fuck! Are you freakin' drugged or somethin'?! It's like you've been smokin' crack before we came here! Ya really don' care about this mission at all! What do I have ta do to get your head out of the Clouds?! Your name fits you perfectly you ass! Ya just aren' into this, am I right?!" Barret spat at the blond who just stared at him with a blank look.

"Whatever." Cloud was his only response at Barret's angry tirade while he looked away. Barret's nostrils flared up.

"You see Jessie?! This is why I didn' wan' him 'ere!" He yelled with his voice cracking like he was on puberty.

"Shush Barret, cut him some slack." Jessie defended.

"Just think about the planet man, it's slowly dying and we are here to make things right." Wedge told Cloud.

"Not interested." He said coolly which made Barret's blood boil once more.

"You fucker is just here for the money, aren't ya?!"

"Will you guys shut up? You guys can argue like a bunch of girls later after this! You can pull each other's braids for all I care just do it AFTER the mission!" Jessie yelled at the two and it made them both snap back at reality. They hurriedly went inside the reactor grounds to the main entrance, opening the rusting doors. The saw an elevator at the north east section and they all went over to ascend further to reach the main generator. Jessie operated the elevator once they were all inside, there was awkward silence as they waited for the door to open, Wedge decided to break the ice by singing a song.

"Come on... Here we go again... Motherfucker... yeah, yeah, yeah..." He sang soothingly while he bobbed his head on his imaginary beat.

"What the hell man." Biggs said to stop him from making the mood worse.

The door opened and soldiers greeted them as soon as the door opened, Barret used his gun arm to release a barrage of bullets while Cloud dealt with another four.

"Can't keep up with me huh, Barret?" Cloud asked with a smirk while he slashed his opponent.

"Shut the hell up, you spiky headed foo'!" He yelled back as he fired rapidly ahead. When the area was cleared, the bigger man glared at the blond who just walked away casually with a smug look in face.

"Son of a bitch." He mumbled while he shook his head.

They continued on their way forward and found a long staircase on their right which was leading down. They all sprinted towards it until they reached the bottom, where more guards blocked their way, Cloud used Blade beam to deal with them and successfully knocked them all out. They found another entrance and went in, large and rusting metal pipes surrounded the area, they walked over the metal ledge where they found a ladder, they all went down with Barret in the lead then continued to run towards the left to reach the lower piping area. Cloud looked down to see where they can hold into to descend downwards, he found metal railings that they could use as a ladder on his right then lead the way downwards, he looked over to his right to see a huge pipe where another ladder was situated and decided to go over it, then climb down again at the said ladder.

"I'm getting sick of these ladders." Wedge complained with heavy breathing as he carefully went down.

"Cut back on the steaks Wedge." Biggs said as he too descended down. Wedge sneered.

"We can't even afford steaks." He responded glumly.

"Shut up and hurry will ya?!" Barret yelled which made Cloud roll his eyes, which unfortunately,the big man saw. "Whatya rollin' yo' eyes for?!"

"It's because you're so loud. Do you want us to get caught?" Cloud said flatly with a blank look.

"Why yo-"

"Enough!" Jessie hissed at them when more soldiers arrived to attack them. Cloud readied his buster sword ans charged forward, he slashed the first man ahead then did the same with the next one. Since Cloud was the only one with materia, he used fire on the remaining soldiers. Somemof them evaded Cloud's magic attack and it was Barret who finished them, he charged his gun arm, which was emitting an orange light then released a powerful blow that had them all knocked out instantly.

"Over here!" Jessie yelled while gesturing her arms to follow her. They all went over to the entrance to the core of the reactor where she was going to plant the charges. They all followed her and watched as she get herself busy with the bomb. Cloud stared ahead at the core, then suddenly, he was seeing something that he didn't want to see.

A village that was burning to dust was flashing through his mind, he clasped his head with both hands and knelt down, his eyes wild. They all turned to look at his direction, Barret went over to him along with Biggs and Wedge. Jessie wanted to check on him but she needed to finish what she was doing.

"Hey Cloud! You alright?" Biggs asked him but he was still kneeling down while clasping his head. Then there was another flash of image, a girl with long, raven colored hair, lying on the ground with blood pouring out of her wound that was running along her chest and torso. The image disappeared then Cloud stared ahead with wide eyes as he remember who it was.

 _That...?_

"Cloud!" Wedge called out to him which snapped him back to reality. "What the hell is happening to you?!" He asked which made Cloud stand up slowly.

"Sorry. It's nothing." He said absentmindedly, he was still disturbed by the last image that he saw.

 _Tifa..._

His thoughts were cut off when a huge robotic scorpion suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front them, he backed away slightly before he pulled out his sword and started to rush forward to attack, he did a front flip towards the fiend then his sword collided with its metal head then flipped back again before charging forward to hit below. Barret started to release a barrage of bullets while he did his loud battle cry. Cloud used his lightning materia that had the fiend weaken slightly before it regained it's strenght and stood up again, the blonde jumped up and used Cross-slash to deal a number of blows to the robot's head before he jumped up to deliver on last attack by piercing it downward from above its head towards the insides on it mechanism to shut it down completely. He pulled out his buster sword then jumped down and looked over his shoulder to see it collapsing.

"We're ready!" Jessie yelled which made them all alert.

"Do it now Jessie." Barret said while Jessie nodded her head, she pressed the detonator and the timer started.

"EVERYONE OUT!" Barret yelled on top of hisungs which made them all run out of the core towards the lower piping, they ascended towards the next room which was the upper piping using the ladders. They hurriedly used another set of ladders to go up the main staircase which had Wedge groaning.

"Shit, shit." He said then Biggs pulled him towards the stairs. Cloud, Barret and Jessie were already up when Wedge was still half way with Biggs pushing him up by his back.

"Argh! What did I do to deserve this?!" Biggs complained. "I'm already being punished for my sins!" Cloud rolled his eyes at Biggs' contradicting statement while Barret and Jessie looked down at them with a bored look. When they finally reached the top, they hurriedly went inside the elevator with Jessie operating it again so it can take them downwards. Once they reached the floor, they ran out towards the exit and to the reactor grounds and got away as far as they can before a huge explosion happened, they were all catching their breaths as they looked at the placed of the explosion where the reactor was supposed to be.

"Good thing we were quick to get away." Wedge said breathlessly which made Biggs look at him in disbelief.

At the same time, somewhere in Sector seven, a young woman carrying bags, was walking gracefully forward, her hips swaying while men oggled at her. Then they all heard a loud explosion which sent everyone panicking, the woman looked over her shoulder for a while then faced front again.

 _Looks like they carried reactor one quiet well._ She thought as she flipped her raven colored hair over her shoulder, ruby eyes staring ahead with a slight smile on her face.

A/N: The song that Wedge was singing in the elevator was Richard Cheese' song named people equal shit. It's a pretty funny song if you listen to it.


	3. Wait, what?

**Chapter three**

They were all hungry and exhausted as they reached Sector seven, all they wanted to do was eat and sleep when they get back to their headquarters. They dealt with more soldiers at Sector 8 after their escape from reactor 1 where they decided to split up but when Cloud tried to escape the soldiers that seem to pop out like mushrooms, he jumped at a roof of an imcomimg train and landed in a car which happened to board the people he was trying to split up from. Barret got pissed about their unwanted reunion so he went to another train car instead.

"Oh man... I'm starving." Wedge said weakly while he walked slowly. Biggs gave him a dirty look and wanted to say something about his weight and what he had to endure at those dreaded stairs of death but decided to drop it, he yawned loudly while he stretched his arms upward.

"Well, a good night sleep is what I need right now." He said as they already see Seventh heaven not far from them. "Home at last." He said again with a smile.

Cloud was looking down as he walked, not really paying attention where he was going when he heard Biggs speak and it made him stop walking.

 _Home..._ He thought while he remembered the vision that he saw in the reactor. It was Nibelheim, his hometown and it was burned to the ground because of the silver haired general who went mad when he couldn't handle the truth about his origin.

And it was also the hometown he grew up and shared with...

His eyes hardened and clenched his fist as he remembered the last memory he had of her. His childhood friend, all bloodied and left to die by a mad man. He shook his head to clear away unwanted thoughts, he didn't want to remember any of it but they showed themselves to him. He found himself in front of Seventh heaven, his new 'home'. He thought, a home is supposed to be where a family lives right? But he couldn't even call these people he was with a family, he was still a stranger to them. He sighed then proceeded to go up the stairs towards the bar's main entrance. He could hear muffled giggling from inside and it made him smile, he pushed open the door and Aerith was the first to greet him with a bright smile.

"Cloud!" She exclaimed then ran towards him to hug him tight, he smiled then hugged back. "Welcome back." She said as she pulled away. He smiled then ruffled her bangs which made her giggle again.

"I'm back." He looked around. "Where's everyone?" He asked.

"Oh, you know that Feefee?" She giggled. "Well, she came back just now and when they heard it from Marlene, they all went upstairs to greet her, they couldn't wait for her to come down." He raised an eyebrow.

"Huh." He said. "She sounds special." He said whole he looked up which made Aerith elbow him in the gut and it made him bent over.

"Ow." Then he raised an eyebrow to her, she pouted playfully then looked away. He smirked then pinched her nose which made her giggle again.

* * *

"Feefee, you have to meet the new member." Jessie said as she watched the sultry brunette 'Feefee' put her clothes on the closet from her travel bag.

"Yeah, of course! I'm excited to meet him." Then she sighed. "And stop calling me Feefee!" She said while she laughed which made Jessie chuckle.

"Well, there's two of them but the other one's not entirely a member, kinda like his girlfriend?" She said unsure. Feefee raised her eyebrows.

"Girlfriend huh? Are you sure that's okay?"

"Yeah, she pretty much hate Shinra too, but she won't tell us why."

"I just hope that when they break up, she won't have her revenge by telling out on us. Seriously, what were you thinking?" She said with her hands on her hips.

"It's the new guy, he couldn't shut his mouth when it comes to his little girlfriend."

"Better teach him a lesson then." Feefee said as she adjisted her red, fingerless glove. "This is a serious matter."

"Nah, it's okay, we've had them both for weeks since you were gone so it's fine. He was with us when we blew up the reactor tonight."

"Yeah, okay. Well anyway, I gotta meet the new guy and his girlfriend." She laughed while she threw her head back.

* * *

Cloud took a swig on his beer at one of the tables in the bar while listening to Aerith's stories with an amused look on his face, then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"I said stop calling me Feefee!" A woman's voice said then she laughed that made Cloud look at the direction where it was coming from. The staircase was sideways from where they were sitting, Jessie was first to emerge then she looked up to the person behind her.

"Hurry up." She said to the woman coming down the stairs.

"Okay okay." The other woman responded and when she came into full view and looked over to her left to face them, Cloud's heart stopped and stared in shock at the woman, who was equally as shocked as him. Jessie and Aerith eyed them both in confusion, but Aerith eas hit by jealousy when Cloud stood up from his seat hastily that made his stool fall over and he didn't even bother to fix it.

"Ti...Tifa...?" He asked as if he was scared that he might be wrong. But he knows he is not, that long raven colored hair, those beautiful ruby eyes and that pair of tear drop shape earrings, he knew that it was her. His lost childhood friend that he thought were dead.

His Tifa.

"Tifa...? Is that... You...?" He asked again, his voice slightly shaking while the woman in question just stared at him in equal shock but it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Cloud..." She said in an almost whisper which had him running towards her and captured her with his arms. His eyes were wide as he held unto her then he closed it when she slowly wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. "Cloud..."

"Wait... You guys know each other?" Jessie interjected but was ignored.

"Tifa... You... You're alive..." He whispered into her ear while he shook slightly. She pushed him away a little so she can look on his face while she cupped it with both hands.

"I thought you were dead..." She said tearfully.

"Me too... I thought... I was dead too..." He suddenly joked which earned him a hit on his chest.

"Jerk! I was serious!" She said while she laughed, a tear falling out her eye which he wiped away with his thumb. He was about to speak again when Aerith cleared her throat. They both looked over to her while Jessie looked away, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"Hi." Aerith said with a smile which made Cloud look down. Tifa smiled back. "I'm Aerith."

"Oh... Hi! I'm Tifa." She said as she approached the pretty girl in pink. Then realization hit her, hard, when she remembered what Jessie told her. "You must be... The girlfriend Jessie was telling me about?" She asked, trying to act cheerful. Aerith and Cloud's eyes widened, he was about to say 'no' when she beat him to it.

"Yes, I am!" Aerith told her happily which stabbed Tifa in the chest and made Cloud speechless as he stared at her in shock.

 _Since when was she my girlfriend...?_ He asked himself glumly. Maybe if Tifa wasn't there, he would be happy when Aerith said that, extremely happy.

"That's great, you guys look good together." Tifa said then she looked at the time. "Oh, I better hurry, the bar will open in an hour, have to make up for the days I was gone." She said.

"You run the bar?" Cloud asked, amused.

"Yeah, resident bartender. At your service." She said as she bowed her head playfully which made Cloud chuckle.

"How do you guys know each other anyway?" Aerith asked, curious.

"Childhood friends."

"Childhood friends."

They both said at the same time which made them look at each other then they laughed. Aerith was hit by another pang of jealousy.

"Feeefee!" Wegde yelled while he approached the brunette to hug her which made her laugh and Cloud jealous, he clenched his fists. "I'm hungry and I don't want Jessie's cooking!" He whined like a child which made Jessie hit him in the back hard while she walked out on them and Tifa giggle.

"Okay, I'll make dinner." She said as she patted his back then he pulled away bouncing about as he went away.

"Woohoo! Alright!" Then he was gone. Cloud pursed his lips at where Wedge disappeared, he wanted to go after the guy to start rolling him away in the rough road outside, while Aerith observed Tifa.

"Dinner duty before the bar. See you, I'll be in the kitchen." Tifa said as she waved her hand then turned around to go. Cloud watched her as she walked away with her hips swaying dangerously, it was the first time he realized how sexy she looked in her clothes, with her crop white tank top and those short leather skirt, his hormones were playing tricks on him so he looked away hastily to face his 'girlfriend', which was another problem. He never agreed to this sudden relationship but here they were. He didn't want to offend her.

 _Life likes to fuck with me, I see..._ He thought with a sigh.


	4. Bunking together

**Chapter four**

"This is so delicious Feefee! I'm so glad you're back home." Wedge exclaimed while eating like he hasn't eaten in weeks. Jessie sneered at him while Tifa giggled.

"Eat lots alright." Tifa said while she fed Marlene, Barret's four year old daughter who was sitting on her lap, who was happily munching away Tifa's delicious cooking. "Is that good Marly?"

"Yes Tifeefee, It's yummy yummy!" The little girl piped happily which made Tifa smile.

"So that's why they call you Feefee?" Cloud said amused, he sat across Tifa with Aerith beside him.

"Well yeah, but these guys know that when they call me that, It's getting on my nerves. But when it's my Marly, I'd be happy to be her Tifeefee."

"I have something for you." Marlene said while she fished out something from her dress pocket. Iylt was a pink card with 'To Feefee' written on it using crayons. Tifa smiled.

"Aaww.. Is this for me?" She asked the girl. Marlene nodded her head.

"I helped her do that." Biggs proudly said which made Tifa's smile bigger. "Taught how to write the words." He said with his mouth full which made some crumbs fall out.

"Ugh." Jessie expressed her disgust.

"That's so nice of you Biggs, thank you." Tifa said while she looked at him then back at the card.

"Read it out loud." Marlene said and Tifa nodded. She opened the card to see a really bad drawing on the left side. "Is this me?" She asked as she pointed at the taller unknown figure on the drawing.

"Yup! And that's me!" She pointed at the smaller one which made Tifa smile again. Wedge snorted beside her as he look over the picture but his amused face fell when Tifa gave him a look that says 'Say a word or you're as good as dead when I'm done with you'. Then she looked at the right side and started to read the words.

"To Tifee, You are my favorite woman in the world and..." She paused while tears were forming in her eyes. "You have always been... My mother... when I didn't have any..." Barret looked down while Tifa's lips quivered then she buried her face on Marlene's hair to hide her tears. Cloud watched her intently while everybody's faces softened, Aeris wiped a tear away. "Thank you sweetheart." She tearily kissed the girl's head. "I love you, you know that right?" She asked the girl who happily smiled at her.

"I love you too!" She responded which made Tifa laugh while she wiped her tears.

"That was so sweet!" Aerith exclaimed while she clapped her hands together. Tifa gave her a genuine smile.

"Yeah, my Marly has always been a sweet little girl." She pinched the girl's nose. "Well, let's eat, let's eat." She said while she hugged Marlene and everybody resumed eating their delicious meal. Cloud stared at her while she happily fed Marlene again, taking im everything about her.

 _She's more beautiful than I remember..._ He thought then he jumped and yelped when Aerith pinched his leg while sporting a sweet smile. Everyone turned to look at him as he tried to compose himself and masked his surprise with his usual cold but cool look. "What?" He asked as if nothing unusual had happened.

"You're weird man." Biggs said as he chewed on a toothpick coolly without looking at him. Cloud glared at his direction.

"No shit." Barret added. Cloud was about to retort when Jessie slammed her hand on the table which made everyone jump, signaling that the conversation is over.

* * *

Cloud watched Tifa from the corner table of the bar as she served drinks behind the bar counter while she happily talked with a patron. His lips lifted slightly upward when she began to throw her cocktail mixer upwards from behind then catching it in the air. She poured the drink before serving it to the patron then she leaned over at the counter with her chin resting on her knuckles while she laughed at the patron's joke. Cloud's eye twitched then looked away, he was being unreasonable because of jealousy.

 _What the hell are you doing to me, Lockhart?_ He thought to himself. Another customer appeared and sat on a stool on the counter, she approached and asked what he wanted. He ordered a whisky which she happily grabbed to pour in a glass, she served it im front of him and when she turned around, the customer's hand was going forward to touch her behind, Cloud stood up to beat the guy to the death but Tifa was faster, she turned around and gripped the man's arm tightly before she twisted it in an odd angle while she banged it in the bar counter.

"Do that again and I'll make sure you won't be able to use that hand again. Got it?" She said with venom which had the man whimpering while he rapidly nodded his head, the patron beside him chuckled as he took a drink while muttered 'idiot' under his breath. Biggs was walking over to the bar and nodded his head at Cloud, ignoring the fact that Tifa was violently dealing with a perverted customer. Tifa let go the man's wrist before she smiled sweetly then turned hee back to wash a few glasses.

 _Wow_. Was all Cloud could think of. Then he remembered what Wedge told him and Aerith before.

 _She's our best fighter._

 _Best fighter huh? That I'd like to see._ He thought with a smirk while he nodded his head in approval. He knew he looked like an idiot and a pervert by smirking and nodding his head by himself while he eyed his childhood friend but he couldn't help it. Tifa looked over to him then waved her hand, he waved back briefly then took a sip on his own drink, pretending not to do what he was doing just seconds ago. Tifa looked at the clock and it was almost closing time.

"Last order everyone!" She happily said that had some of the patrons going over to the bar to get orders, some of them paying already, leaving generous tips for the beautiful barmaid. When everyone was happy and contented and drunk enough, she ushered everyone out then closed the door shut. She sighed then went back to the counter where Cloud was already washing the glasses. "Oh no no! I'll take care of that." She told him but he didn't listen.

"I'll help, I know you're exhausted." He said while he busied himself. Tifa smiled at him then stares at his face. She noticed how handsome he got over the years, she couldn't help but stare at his beautiful blue eyes, it sent shivers down her spine when he suddenly looked at her with those eyes, a questioning look on his face, she blushed then looked down at the glasses that need to be dried off. Cloud saw how she reacted and it made him lift the corner of his lips upward.

"I guess Jessie didn't tell you but the room you are staying in is actually mine..." She suddenly said which widened his eyes.

"W-What? Really? I-"

"There's no other room left so we have no choice but to bunk in together." She said sheepishly while he scratched the back of his head with a hand full of soap suds which made Tifa chuckle.

"Uuhh... Yeah, I guess, and we need to catch up you know." He said then went back to his washing. She smiled.

"I would love that. But I don't think Aerith would love it though..." She said which made him stop doing the dishes.

"Tifa... Aerith... She's not-" He was cut off when Wedge slipped on the stairs and began sliding downwards on his behind.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-AH!"

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?!" Tifa said as she hurried towards her friend, Cloud pressed his lips together to prevent himself from bursting out laughing, Tifa was struggling as well.

"I... I'm fine..." Wedge said as he slowly stood up while rubbing his buttocks then looked at the two. "Just let it out will ya?" He said with a smirk then he grimaced while he rubbed his buttocks. Tifa and Cloud did what he said and burst out laughing.

* * *

Cloud sat on the edge of the bed while he waited to for Tifa, she was getting ready for bed in the bathroom. He will tell her that Aerith was not really his girlfriend before they sleep. He was determined as he nodded his head to himself. He will tell her once and for all.

* * *

Tifa opened the door to the bathroom to go back to the bedroom she shared with Cloud. She dried her haor as she walked while wearing fitted white shirt and black cotton shorts. She reached the bedroom opened the door.

"Hey Cloud, I-" She stopped when she saw him sprawled on the bed, his legs where dangling downwards the edge, he looked like he fell asleep while sitting down and was snoring slightly with his mouth half open. Tifa held her hand to her mouth to stop her laugh. She approached him then lifted his feet up and positioned him right on the corner of the bed so she can have space. He didn't budge but snored in a louder tone then smacked his lips when she pulled his leg on the right direction and she was struggling from her laughter. She pulled the blanket to his chest and brushed a few strands of his bangs.

 _Poor Cloud, so exhausted from the mission I guess._

She dried her hair completely before she went over to her side of the bed to slide herself inside the covers, she put a pillow between them so they wouldn't be too close, she respected Aerith but they just didn't have a choice but to bunk in together, she then turned to the side, facing away from the blond.

"Goodnight Cloud..." She whispered then she too was consumed by sleep.

Looks like the thing with Aerith will have to wait.


	5. My lovely dream

**Chapter five**

Tifa slowly opened her eyes, she sighed sleepily while trying to look at the time, she lifted her head to look at the night stand, she saw that it was almost 6 in the morning, she flopped her head back down the pillow. She tried to blink the sleep away when she felt someone stirring behind her, her eyes widened when the said someone suddenly snaked his arms around her upper body while she lay on her side, facing away from him. She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't specially when he was the one who started talking.

"Tifa..." He said in a groggy way, his voice hoarse and cracked.

"Yes?" She responded quietly.

"Give me your cookies..." Her eyes widened at an alarming rate but she couldn't move.

"Uuhhh..."

"Cookies... Yes... Chocolate chip. Mmmm... Gimme more..." He said groggily then he started to snore loudly. Tifa was shocked and speechless, but she still couldn't move from the blond man's grip.

 _He's talking in his sleep!_ She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly, she was shaking slightly while trying to hold her laughter in. _And he's dreaming about me and umm... I have to get out here._ She slowly removed Cloud's arm from her, careful not to wake him up, then she slowly sat up making his arm fall in an awkward angle on the bed. Tifa couldn't take it anymore so she ran out as fast as she can but she could only reach the kitchen before she burst out laughing, making Barret jump and spill his morning coffee all over his legs which made him yelp.

"Wha's the matter with you?! Has Cloud infected your brain or somethin'?!" He yelled at the still laughing Tifa.

"What is it?! Is it them?! Is it after us?!" Biggs yelled who was making his way towards the kitchen while looking around frantically with his eyes glazed over, Barret stared at him with a perflexed look. Tifa laughed harder at her friends' sleeping disorders.

"Why is everyone so loud..." Marlene said as she sleepily rubbed her eyes, carrying a worn out moogle doll on the other hand.

"Now look whatya did!" Barret said as he scooped Marlene to his arms to put her back to bed. "Let's go baby, we don't want you be infected by these crazies." He glared at Tifa who was already calming down and Biggs who was sprawled on a dining chair, his head hung losely at the backrest while he snored loudly.

 _Time to bake some chocolate chip cookies._ Tifa thought with a smirk. She remembered how Cloud loved those when they were young.

* * *

Tifa slowly approached Cloud while she tried hard not to laugh at the way he looked on the bed. He was laying on his side and the arm that was around her body before was hanging in an awkward angle, she could hear him mumbling in his sleep but couldn't hear what he was saying so she got closer.

"Cookie dough party..." He mumbled , her mouth twitch.

"Cloud..." She poked him to wake him up.

"I'm still waiting for that cookie..."

"CLOUD!"

"WHAT?! WHAT?!" He bolted up while frantically looking around. Tifa held her breath, she had enough of that for one day.

"Breakfast. Is. Ready." She was finding it hard to talk so she straightened up to ran away towards the stairs again, leaving a very confused Cloud behind.

* * *

Cloud groaned as he held his head in his hand. He remembered a very strange and disturbing dream that he had, everything was white and he could see Tifa running towards him while she carried a tray, and it contained his favorite chocolate chip cookies. He asked for Tifa to give him some so she started to throw a piece at his direction, he caught with his mouth with ease, he told her how much he appreciated her cookie then he asked for more so she started throwing more cookies like a frisbee where he caught each of them with his mouth. The setting changed and they were both lying on a pool of cookie dough, making snow angels together, or rather, cookie dough angels.

Cloud shook his head to clear that bizzare thought. _What the fuck?_ He thought then he sighed. He decided to forget about it by taking a warm shower.

When he was done on his morning routine, he decided to go downstairs to eat. The first thing he saw was Tifa, drinking coffee while eating something that made his mind go wild but kept it hidden beneath his usual emotionless look. She looked up at him with a smile on her face.

"Good morning Clo-"

"About time you woke up Spike!" Barret yelled while he banged his hand on the table at the same time whicj them all jump.

"That mini heart attack..." Wedge said weakly while he clutched his chest, Biggs raised an eyebrow.

"You really need to cut back on those steaks."

"I don't even eat steaks! They're too expensive!"

"But you alwa-"

"SHUT THE FU-" Barret stopped himself when he saw Marlene looking at him. "Mmmm Fa... Shut up." He said, his voice lost its authorative tone. Tifa sighed.

"Cloud sit down, we'll do a briefing for the mission today at Reactor 5, but first, have some coo-"

"Did you make more of those? They're super moist and gooeylicious!" Wedge said which made Cloud lick his lips.

"Right..." Barret said with unseeing eyes.

"Well anyway," Tifa interjected. "I've made chocolate chip cookies to go with your coffee Cloud." She said, pretending not to know anything but her amused expression was giving her away. Cloud blushed slightly.

 _Did she...? How did she...?_ He cleared his throat.

"Yeah... Thanks." He said while he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Did you sleep well?" Tifa teased which had him chuckling, pushing away the thoughts of his bizzare dream somewhere in his brain where he can't reach it anymore.

"Next to you? Who wouldn't?" He said with a smirk which made Barret roll his eyes and Biggs let out a forced cough which sounded like 'man-whore'. Cloud glared at him then sat down next to Tifa to start munching on the delicious cookies his been dreaming about.

A/N: When Tifa asked the same question in the game, you can choose between the dialogues 'Next to you? Who wouldn't?' or 'Barret's snoring kept me up all night.'. Reactor 5 mission is next.


	6. Evil panties

**Chapter six**

Cloud was full and content and ready to take down the Reactor in sector 5. It was the same mission from last time but Tifa will be coming along with them this time.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Cloud asked Tifa, who was offended by his question.

"You may be SOLDIER 1st class but I was in this anti-Shinra organization before you did. So yeah." She said, trying to hide her irritation, she didn't want to be seen as a damsel in distress.

"...Sorry." He said quietly. She shook her head.

"No worries." _How can I stay mad at you when you're adorable like that?_ She looked at him dreamily then looked away when he turned to look at her. _Oh Cloud, I want hug you right now but you have a beautiful girlfriend who I can't compete with._ She thought sadly then pursed her lips. _BUT he was dreaming about me and my cookies..._ She shook her head. _But maybe it doesn't mean anything... Maybe he's just like one of those guys who only like me for my body._

Unknown to her, Cloud had been watching her while she made faces without saying a word, his face sporting a mixture of amusement and worry.

 _She's acting weird..._ _I wonder what she's thinking about?_ Then he studied her from top to bottom. _Why do you have to grow up into such a_ fine _woman?_ He thought and when his eyes rested on her chest, he blushed then looked away. Barret saw the whole thing and muttered 'Perverted fool' under his breath. If Tifa could hear his thoughts, she would be depressed and kick his ass so hard he'll go through the walls of seventh heaven then fly towards Sector 8 and die of humiliation mid air as he yelled like tortured soul.

"Le's go, we need to board the train now." Barret said while he started to walk away. Everyone from the AVALANCHE crew followed behind him.

"I'm not really looking forward to those ladders though." Wedge said as he walked while eating potato chips. Biggs gave him a perflexed look.

"That makes two of us." He said as he narrowed his eyes on the evil bag of chips, the face printed on it looked like it was smirking at him in a sinister way. _I want to beat the shit out of that pathetic face._ He thought angrily. _You have no idea what I had to go through last time you prick!_ He widened his eyes threatiningly at the picture while he mentally argued with it. It was cut short when Wedge suddenly crumpled it then threw it away without care.

"The train is there. Come on." Tifa said as she started to run. Everyone followed her then they boarded the train.

"Glad we made it." Wedge said then. After a while the train started to move. Cloud looked at Tifa again who was checking out something on the train wall. He stood next to her and saw that she was looking at the railroad system that was on a tiny screen in front of her.

"That's..." He said, trying to start a conversation. "...interesting." Tifa looked at him.

"Ummm... Right..." She said, unsure.

"Hey Tifa... Listen... About-" He didn't get to finish his words when the alarm went off.

"What the-" Barret said but Biggs finished his sentence.

"Fuckitty fuck!" Biggs elled then started to run towards the next train car with everyone following behind him. Everyone got into the next train before the first one was locked.

"Hurry!" Tifa said as she sprinted towards the next car while everyone did the same.

When they reached the third car, a male passenger mugged Cloud of his money pouch that had his recent terrorism job payment.

"Son of a bitch!" He yelled then clobbered the poor man who was instantly knocked out when he collided on the floor with Cloud on top of him. The blond grabbed his pouch then ran as fast as he could barely missing the lock system by inches. Nobody bothered to asked what has occured, maybe later, they all thought.

They have successfully reached the last train car, Barret had already jumped followed by the others, Tifa and Cloud were the last ones to jump into the flatform of what looked like an underground tunnel. When he looked on his right and found a secured gate, then he looked at his left when he heard a familiar battle cry and his eyes widened, his mouth slackened when he saw Tifa gracefully beating the guards who decided to attack them.

 _Holy shit_. He thought while he still stared. She delivered two side punches then an uppercut that lifted the guard in the air then raised her foot upward that hit the guard's chin then hit his head with the sole of her boots as she sent her feet down again. Then she kicked another guard on the stomach then his face on a fast phased sideways kick, and charged at him when he was sent backwards then forcefully punched him hard square in the chest that had him flying towards the metal wall which bent to accomodate his form when his body collided with it.

 _Fuck_. Cloud thought.

"Hey guys! Here!" Jessie said as she look into a faulty air conditioning system and happen to open a way down. She went in the duct while the rest followed. Tifa snapped her fingers at the still dazed Cloud who snapped back to reality, then she grabbed his wrist to guide towards the duct so they can go down.

"We have to go down there." She said. Wedge was already on his way down.

"I'll go first, then you." Cloud said. He knew that Tifa's panties will be exposed while she went down so he wanted to cover it with himself as much as he can so no one could see it. _I'm just being a gentleman._ He thought, unsure. When he was climbing down, he mistakenly looked upward making him see Tifa's underwear which made him missed a spot with his foot and hand that he ended up falling about while he yelled.

"Cloud!" Tifa called out while she looked downwards. She heard a loud thud below that had her speeding in an alarming rate.

"What the fuck is the matter with you?!" Barret scolded while twirling his gun arm in the air. Cloud slowly sat up while he grimaced as he rubbed his lower back.

"I slipped." He said. "That's not how to treat someone who's ass is on fire."

"Are you okay Cloud?" Tifa asked sweetly as she knelt beside him. Her chest on the side of his face. He wanted to lean on them, he wanted, but he couldn't.

"I'm fine ba-" He was supposed to say 'baby' but stopped himself in time which gave Tifa a confused look.

"...Okay..." She said.

"Let's get goin'."Barret said. They reached a crawl-way path when they moved forward, Cloud asked Tifa to stay last again so nobody would look at her behind, even him, he remembered what happened a while ago and his butt and lower back still hurts.

"I changed my mind about ladders, I like them more now." Wedge said as he crawled forward with Biggs behind him.

 _Nope, still hate those fucking ladders._ Biggs thought. Then he remembered the face on the bag of chips, mocking him. _Curse you!_

"We're here." Jessie said as she was the one in front and can already see the main area of the reactor at the end of the crawl-way. She managed to get out first, followed by everyone else. Cloud helped Tifa when she was coming out by holding to her shoulder to help her up.

"Thanks..." She said then he smiled. He realized that he's been holding her shoulder longer than he intended so he hastily let go like she was an hot iron, her face fell because of it.

"Sorry." He said then turned around to walk away, but was stopped when Tifa pinched his sweater from behind while she look down. Cloud furrowed his brows.

"What's wrong?" He asked her. Then she looked up with a smile.

"Nothing..." She then let go of his sweater to start walking past him. He followed her with his eyes while she walked, the said eyes eventually landing on a glaring Barret.

"You both can do some soap opera shit later on. We have to get movin'!" He yelled the last word.

"So loud!" Jessie complained while she walked away.

They went towards the main generator of the reactor the same way they did with Reactor 1 since they both had the same layout. They encountered guards but defeated them all with ease since they were three of them fighting rather that two, though Cloud would be distracted because he was mesmerized by Tifa as she fights.

When they have finally reached the core, Jessie started to plant the charges of the bomb while they all kept watch. At that moment, images again appeared in Cloud's head and this time, an image of a Silver haired man walking away while surrounded by flames.

"Cloud!" Tifa yelled and that's when he realized that he had been kneeling again while clutching his head. "What happened?!"

"This happened last time too." Jessie said while she looked over her shoulder. Tifa gave her a confused look then back at Cloud.

 _I knew there was something wrong with him..._ She did notice how sometimes he would zone out or he would mutter words under his breath on his own on the short time they had together.

"It's okay Cloud... I'm here..." She said soothingly as she rubbed his back while he still knelt down but his arms are already down to his sides.

"I'm fine now..." He said then slowly stood up with Tifa holding his arm.

"All done." Jessie said. "Everyone ready to move out!" She said, then she pressed the detonator which made them all sprint back to the door.

"This can't be happening! This is isn't real!" Biggs complained as he pushed Biggs again up the stairs, Tifa, who was ahead of them decided to ran back towards them then grabbed Wedge with both hands and with her Godly strength,she threw him upwards where Cloud, Barret and Jessie were already waiting while she yelled 'Heads up!'. Cloud, in shock of Tifa's monster strenght didn't move while Barret was torn between catching the guy or running away from him, but he was too late to decide, Wedge landed on him which made them fall flat on the floor with a sickening thud.

"OOMF!" They both exclaimed.

"Son of a..." Barret groaned while Wedge began to stand up. "Ya could have atleast warned us." He said while he held his breath.

"I did." She said as she began running away towards the exit while the rest followed. Cloud shook out his dazed state then followed as well. They finally reached the elevator where Biggs warned Wedge not to sing. When they were out, they found a different kind of security system, Jessie got on the door first to study it. After a while, she faced them all again.

"We have to push the buttons at the same time." She said.

"I'll do one button." Tifa said as she ran forward, Cloud followed her then Barret was the last one. They positioned themselves on the buttons, their hands ready to press them.

"On the count of three." Cloud said. "One, two, three!" He pressed the button but it didn't work.

"Maybe we're doing it wrong." Tifa said.

"Is it after the coun' of three or on the mention of three that we press this damn button?" Barret said.

"On the count of three!" Cloud said.

"What I mean is, is it after the mention of three that we press or during the count of three?!" He asked angrily.

"You lost me there." Cloud said. Tifa sighed.

"You don' fuckin' get it do you?! Are you that stupi-"

"I'm not the one who doesn't get the simple instruction!" Cloud yelled back. They continued to yell insults at each other until Tifa had enough.

"Enough! I'll count! As soon as I say three we all press!" Tifa yelled which made them all look at their designated buttons. "One! Two! Three!" She yelled then they all pressed the button at the same time.

"That wasn't so hard." Cloud said while Barret rolled his eyes.

"Uhhh... The timer? Unless you guys want to be blown to bits with guts flying everywhere, we better RUN!" Biggs yelled then he started sprinting away when the door opened. Everyone followed him but was stopped when they met with a huge robot monster once again.

"ARE YA FUCKIN' KIDDIN' ME?!" Barret yelled while Cloud and Tifa did a fighting stance. Cloud charged forward and delivered powerful slashes on the robot's body, while Tifa went to it's side towards the back so she can deliver kicks from behind, Barret used his gun arm while he did his battle cry, rain of bullets colliding with it's metal body. Cloud lifted his arms up to use his lightning materia then numerous lightning bolts descended towards the monster. It launched missiles on Barret's direction, some of them flew towards Tifa who dodged it by jumping out of the way, while Barret did a side roll. The blast damaged the bridge they were fighting at.

"Shit!" Biggs exclaimed as he went out of the way along with Jessie and Wedge.

Tifa was enraged because it was already wasting their precious time so she used beat rush to deal a number of powerful blows on it's body and when she backed flipped away from it, Cloud jumped high and slashed it downwards, splitting it in half as he went. But something went wrong, the robot short circuited which caused it to explode and it threw Cloud backwards.

"CLOUD!" Tifa ran towards him while he was barely hanging on a ledge, she tried to extent her hand to him but he was a little out of reach.

"I don't think I can hold on much longer." He said while he looked at her.

"NO!" She yelled. "PLEASE!" _I just got you back!_

"Be brave." He said with a smile and with that, his hand slipped which made him fall downwards. The last thing he could hear was Tifa's defeaning screams, calling his name.


	7. Pets names galore

**Chapter seven**

 _Cloud..._

 _What is that? Who are you?_

 _Cloud?_

 _What are you doing to me...? Stop touching me there._

 _Cloud!_

 _What? Can't you hear me? I'm talking to you!_

 _CLOUD!_

 _My ears are ringing... Stop it..._

"CLOUD!" And with that, he bolted up, colliding his forehead with someone else's that had them both groaning in pain.

"Fuck!" He yelled while he held on his forehead.

"Language Cloud!" A familiar voice yelled back which made him look up at her. His eyes widened.

"Aerith? What? How...?"

"You fell down from there." She pointed upwards the open roof of the old church in Sector 5, which had him looking up. Then he looked down at her again. "I thought you were dead!" She suddenly whined then she charged at him and wrapped her arms on his neck that widened his eyes greatly. He hesitantly returned the hug then patted her back. Then she pulled back to look at his face. "What happened?" She asked. Cloud sighed then began his story. When he was done, Aerith started to rub his head. "You're okay now... It's because you're with me now... I'm your girlfriend." She said sweetly which made him smile.

"I know... Thank you Aerith." When he said that, she hugged him again which he returned while he closed his eyes. Then he slowly opened them again only for Tifa to appear in his mind. He sported a pained expression in his face. Just then, a person entered the church which made them both look up the entrance.

"I see you found yourself a little boyfriend yo!" The person wearing a black suit, who has fiery read hair with spikes and a ponytail tied on his back, said mockingly while he wore a goofy smile on his face. Cloud and Aerith stood up, the blonde covered Aerith with himself before he spoke.

"Who are you and what do you want with Aerith?" He asked firmly which had the red head laughing.

"Since you asked, I'm going to introduce myse-"

"Not interested."

"But you said-"

"Not anymore."

"Why do you have to change your mind so quickly yo?"

"Because I don't care who you are."

"But you ASKED me yo!"

"So what?"

"Fuck you!"

"Language!" Aerith interjected.

"But your boyfriend started it yo!" Reno said with his voice cracking.

"I did not." Cloud said flatly.

"You did asshole!"

"Stop it already!" Aerith yelled.

"It's because he can't keep his mouth shut." Cloud said again.

"YOU can't keep your mouth shut yo!"

"ENOUGH!" Aerith yelled for the last time before guards started to come inside the church.

"Cloud! Let's go!" Aerith said before she started to ran but Cloud was faster, he went up towards the broken concrete wall so he can pull Aerith up.

"Come on!" He said as he reached his hand down to her but a guard got her instead.

"Cloud!" Just then, he saw a barrel and threw at the guard while he yelled 'Duck!' at Aerith, which she did and it hit the guard square in the face that made him fall over.

"Ugh!" exclaimed the guard. And as Aerith was making her way with Cloud, the blonde threw more barrels at more guards that had them knocked out. When he was done, he turned around to run away but Reno spoke first.

"The name's fucking Reno! IT'S RENO!" He yelled on top of his lungs but Cloud only turned around and gave the red head the dirty finger before heading away.

"I'm so glad that was over." Aerith said as she stopped running, trying to catch her breath.

"You okay?" Cloud asked.

"I'm with my boyfriend, of course I'll be okay." She saod as she smiled, Cloud smiled back. He sighed internally. He couldn't possibly tell Tifa now that Aerith is not really her girlfriend. He didn't want to hurt her. Sure, he was attracted to Aerith, but when Tifa appeared, he's had this confused feelings and at the moment, he didn't want to think about it.

"Why are they after you anyway?" He asked to change the subject.

"I'll tell you later but right now we need to go to my house." She said while she started to walk, her hand making it's way to the blonde's as she pulled him on the path towards her home. Cloud went along with it. He still thinks she's really beautiful and sweet and funny, and he feels like something inside his head kept on pulling him towards Aerith, but Tifa is also in his mind a lot lately.

When they reached the house, they were greeted by Aerith's mother,Elmyra.

"Oh! You must be the boyfriend she was telling me about! Oh my... He really is handsome sweetheart." She said to her daughter who blushed.

"Oh Mom, you're embarassing me!" She said which made Cloud chuckle.

"It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Cloud."

"I'm Elmyra. Oh, why don't you make yourself at home. Have some rest if you want to." She said as she gestured upstairs.

"Thank you." He said. Aerith pulled him up the stairs and eventually led him to the guest room.

"You can sleep here." She said. "I mean,I would want you to sleep with me-" his eyes widened at her words. "-but you know, too fast for _that_." She said that had him speechless.

"Uhh..." _She's so straight forward!_

"Right... I should uhhh... Yeah." He said nervously then he went in and closed the door. There was a knock so he opened it again and found Aerith still outside.

"No goodnight kiss?" She asked as she batted her eyelashes.

"Right." He leaned forward hurriedly then kissed her forehead that threw her head back a little. "Goodnight."

"No pet names?" She asked again.

"Ummm... Darling?"

"Ugh, no."

"Sweetie?"

"Ummm..."

"Sweetie pie?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Pumpkin?"

"I'm not a vegetable!"

"Pumpkin pie?"

"Still a pumpkin!"

"Squiggly-doo?"

"What does that mean?"

"Sugar plu-"

"How about just call me angel? I like that!"

"Okay then... Goodnight Angel..." Then he slowly closed his door and leaned his back on it. He sighed then rubbed his face. Outside, Aerith looked down on the floor with a sad look on her face.

 _It's not the same when you called me that... You know..._ She told no one in particular but those familiar black spikes and purple eyes were flashing through her mind.

* * *

Cloud woke up while it was still dark. He slowly sat up and thought about Seventh heaven.

 _She must be really worried about me..._ He thought of Tifa. He decided that he will go home at that very moment so he quietly fixed himself then opened the door, trying not to make a noise, he tiptoed so Aerith and Elmyra won't hear him and ask him to stay. He will ask Aerith about Reno and why they were after her later when he comes back before morning, he just needed to make sure that Tifa knows he's alive.

He successfully went out the house without making a noise and he was quiet proud of himself. He smiled smugly as he walked away, suddenly excited to see Tifa.

 _I can't wait for her to see me._ He thought while he still walked away, when he finally saw the next Sector, which is 6,he saw a familiar figure in pink that had him panicking in an instant, frantically looking around, he was trying to find a place to hide but he was too late.

"I knew you would escape." She said as she slowly approached him.

"I uhh... I wouldn't say escaping...?"

"I'm just messing with you! Come one, come with me." Then she started to pull him somewhere without warning that had him stumbling about.

 _No... I have to go home!_ He thought.

"Come on! You see that slide there? Let's go sit on top of it!" She said as she ran towards it. Cloud, who was suddenly exhausted, decided to just go with it so he sat down on top of the slide with Aerith beside him.

"You know... Not to be mean or anything but, there was a guy same as you that use to take me here." She suddenly said which made him look at her in confusion.

"Ouch?" He said, he felt something, maybe jealousy, or maybe his pride was hurt. He didn't know. He mentally beat the crap out of himself while yelling obscenities.

"Sorry... He was my first love and a 1st class SOLDIER like you... But don't worry... It's all in the past now..." She said reassuringly, she was not even sure why she mentioned _him_ in the first place, she was regretting in already. "Sorry Cloud..." She said with a sad look. He patted her head while wearing a sweet smile.

"It's okay..." He said and his eyes widened at what happened next.

Her lips was suddenly into his.

It lingered, the kiss, but it was innocent and shy. He was still shocked when she pulled away from him and stared at her with wide eyes, but not as shocked when he saw a red, festive carraige passing by the road. But what made him suddenly stand up was the fact that Tifa was inside it, and it looked like she had witnessed what occured earlier. And why was she wearing a very revealing blue outfit and even make up on her face?

 _Where is she going?! Did she see... No..._ He thought, full of regret specially when Tifa looked away with the most heartbreaking face he's ever seen.

"TIFA!"


	8. Make me pretty

**Chapter eight**

"That's Tifa?! She looked like a..." Aeris said as she followed the carriage with her eyes that was carrying Tifa. Cloud's eyes widened when the said carraige went inside the Honey Bee inn, a well known brothel in Sector 6 that was owned by Don Corneo.

"Why the hell is she going in there?! Is she...?! All along?! She's...!" Cloud exclaimed as he pulled his soft but spiky blond hair like a crazy person. Aerith smacked the back of his head.

"Do you really think she's that kind of person?! She must have had a reason!" _But the way she dresses though... No I mustn't think of her like that!_ Aerith thought while Cloud was already down the slide.

"Tifa! Tifa!" He yelled while he ran like a child going after his last cookie which rolled away on the side of the road. "TIFA!" He yelled while running towards the said brothel with Aerith trailing behind him.

"Cloud! Wait!" But he didn't stop. He went straight for the inn's guest entrance, where a man with silver hair is talking to a bouncer. Aerith was suddenly feeling jealous again at how Cloud reacted towards Tifa's situation.

"Excuse me, do you know anyone named Tifa working in there?" He asked in a calm manner. Aerith shook her head at how quickly he turned his mood around.

"Oh Tifa? She's our new girl and I heard that she's one of the three girls to be chosen as Don Corneo's 'bride' for tonight, she's in the Don's mansion at the moment."

 _WHAT?!_

"...Thanks."

"What do we do?" Aerith whispered.

"We have to go to the Don's mansion first." Cloud whispered back with his eyes wild. Aerith gave him a perplexed look. Then he turned around while she followed him. They walked through the wall market where different shops where situated. Weapons, dress, items, there's also another in and a bar, and right next to the said bar is the Don's mansion where they were planning to go. Cloud immediately talked to the guard outside with Aerith behind him.

"I see you got a cutie with you." The guard talked first. "You came here for the Don?"

"Uhhh..."

"Yes! But give us a minute." Aerith said then pulled Cloud away so the guard can't hear them.

"I have to go inside." She said.

"What?! You can't! Do you know what kind of place is this?!" He hissed at her.

"I know! But Tifa..." She trailed off then started laughing. Cloud gave him a confused look.

"What's so funny?"

"The only way you can go with me is if you dress up as a girl!" She said while she still laughed. Cloud stared at her with a blank look and it took a few second before what she said registered in his already fragile mind.

"WHAT?!"

"Oh come on, you want to rescue her right? That's the only way." She said then went back to the guard.

"We'll come back, I'll bring another cutie with me." Aerith said with a wink and the guard nodded with a blush. Then she went back to Cloud and pulled him away to start their mission.

* * *

Tifa sighed as she waited in a room where the guards put her in. She was told to wait there until two more girls arrived.

 _I have to get chosen._ She thought. She stood up to go to the mirror and stared at her self. She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. I _look like a prostitute... Well, it's because I'm supposed to be one... So I guess I look perfect for the part?_ She turned to check on her ass on the mirror. _Seems... Tight enough..._ She shuddered at her thoughts. Then she faced front again to stare at her cleavage. _Not enough I think..._ She pressed her hands on the side of her breasts and pushed both upwards. _That's much better but how can I hold it like that_? _Maybe with a bunch of tapes? But where can I get tapes around here?_ She sighed. _I can't believe I'm thinking about these kind of things!_ She held her hands on the side of her head while she shook it. _And Cloud, I was worried sick about him but he was just having a date! And I was so worried about how I was going to tell Aerith!_ She thought angrily. She didn't want to be bitter but she was so mad at Cloud for not bothering to tell her that's he was alive and left her to suffer that night. She remembered how her night went.

 _"Tifa..." Wedge rubbed her back as she sobbed on the dining table with her head buried in her arms that was crossed together._

 _"Cloud... Why...? What are we gonna tell Aerith?" In the middle of her depressed moment, Barret barged in the kitchen angrily._

 _"A source told me that the owner of Honey bee inn, Don Corneo is an informant for damn Shinra and he knows about us!" He slammed his palm in the table. "The fucker needs to go down!"_

 _"What?" Tifa stood up._

 _"We need to do something." Jessie said._

 _"We need to know what he knows and what he's been telling Shinra." Biggs said. Tifa thought for a while before she spoke._

 _"I'll go." She finally said with hard eyes._

 _"What do you mea-" Barret started but was interrupted._

 _"I'll go inside the inn to extract information from him." She said that had their eyes widen._

 _"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed at the same time which made her jump._

 _"We don't have a choice! I have to pretend to be an escort so I can get inside without a problem." She said while she sighed._

 _"Are you sure Tifa?" Barret asked which made her smile._

 _"Like I don't know how to handle myself." She said with a smirk. Trying to hold her sadness within._

 _Her I am..._ She thought as she still stared at herself. She placed her hands to her breasts again to push them upwards when the door opened and she hastily let them go and turned around. _Hope no one saw that._ She thought. Then her eyes widened when she saw who was at the door. "AERITH?!"

"Tifa! Are you alright?" She asked as she made her way towards the brunette.

"What are you doing here?!" She asked and her eyes widened.

"We're here to rescue you!" She said cheerfully like her being there was not a big deal.

"We're...?" But her question was answered when a really beautiful blond woman with twin braids, she was wearing a long purple dress with long sleeves, and a small tiara on her head but what caught her attention was her brown military boots. They were really familiar and her eyes widened in realization when she stared at the girl's eyes, they were blue. That blue she knows too well.

"...CLOUD?!"

"Took you long enough..." He said in monotone that had her pressing her lips together. He continued to stare with a blank look while she was struggling with her laughter. _Just let it out and laugh at me!_ He thought sadly but his face didn't match what he felt inside.

 _Oh my...! I mustn't laugh! He dressed up to rescue me! He did it for me! Help me! Gods! Give me more strength to endure this torture! Oh my good-_ But she failed miserably and started to roar with laughter which infected Aerith as well. They both started to laugh at the beautiful blonde's expense.

 _That's the thanks I get?!_ He thought angrily. _But then, I'd probably laugh if I was in their shoes._ Then he stared at Tifa's form. He mentally slap himself for thinking that her sexy self was enough compensation for the trouble he went through.

"Cloud... You look so pretty!" Tifa said as she wiped her eyes. Aerith was doing the same.

"...Thanks. I'm flattered to my core." He said flatly. Tifa smiled at him.

"Thank you for coming for me Cloud..." She said sweetly that had Aerith jealous in an instant.

"Good thing I convinced him to dress up like this!" She said. Tifa's face fell.

 _So it was Aerith who told her to..._ She thought sadly. _I mean him..._ She laughed again.

"What are YOU doing here Tifa?" Cloud asked. Tifa told him everything before they were called out.

"The Don will see you now." A staff said as he peeked his head on the door, wiggling his eyebrows at Cloud who pretended to smile but inside he was screaming.

 _I remember your face fucker! You will die! You will die!_ He thought while Tifa and Aerith were giggling behind their hands because the saw the whole thing. The three of them followed the staff with Aerith in front and Tifa at the back. Cloud stopped walking to level himself with Tifa and when she was at his side, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it, hidden behind his balloon skirt. Tifa stared at him in shock but he was not looking at her and just straight ahead with his face sporting serious expression.

 _Cloud...?_

"What are you two doing?" The staff asked as he looked over his shoulder which made Cloud let go of Tifa's hand and hurriedly went forward. Tifa walked after him after a few seconds, still im shock while Aerith casted them both suspiscious looks. Cloud walked past her so he was now at the front of the line.

 _What just happened there?_ She thought then she started to go after him.

They finally reached a huge double door room with flamboyant designs that had Cloud grimacing.

 _What horrible taste._ He thought. _Makes my eyes burn like hell._

"Go inside lovely ladies." The staff said while staring directly at Cloud who did a very fake looking girly smile which had the staff grinning like a fool while nodding his head. When Cloud walked past him he held his wrist and whispered something in his ear.

"I hope the Don doesn't choose you so I can show you the time of your life baby..." He whispered which had Cloud's vision to go red. But he smiled his fake girly smile again and spoke.

"Oh stop it you..." He said in a fake high pitch voice that made Tifa and Aerith look at each other in shock. Then Cloud winked at the guy before he went inside, his ass was smacked approvingly as soon as he did that had his blood boiling in an instsnt, already imagining his violent killing spree once this was all over, first on his list: The ass smacking guy. Tifa and Aerith covered their faces with their hands. It was too much for them. They wanted to laugh out loud but they couldn't.

"Ooohhh this is my lucky night I would say." Said a voice which had them all look at the only person in the room. He was a large man with a big belly wearing a red coat with fir for collars, and a little portion of blond hair on top of his bald head. "Lovely ladies! Beautiful!" He said as he approached them all. They were all lined up side by side with Cloud in the middle, Tifa on his right and Aerith on his left. "Let me see this one first!" Don said as he looked at Tifa, Cloud clenched his fists. "Lovely body, pretty face and oh my..." He said as he lifted his hands to trail his forefinger on the top of his chest. Cloud' vision was blackening but Tifa didn't flinch and just smiled at the Don but deep inside she wanted to tear him apart. "Generous bossom, I like that! I like that!" Then he moved along to Cloud. "Oh dear, you are FULL! You get what I'm saying?! Full, such a pretty face, oh yes." He licked his lips while he studied Cloud up and down. The blond mentally added a new person on his list: Big bellied fucker. Then he walked towards Aerith to study her as well. "This is an angel on the face of the planet. Such a beautiful lady! Perfect! Just perfect!" Aerith giggled but she was disgusted to her core. Then the Don moved in the middle again to choose at the three. "Such hard a decision! What to do?! What to do?!" Cloud inwardly rolled his eyes.

 _Just choose me so I can give you a good time!_ He thought. _A good time alright..._ He thought again while he shuddered inwardly. _I'll shove my buster sword up your- Wait... That doesn't sound right._ He grimaced _. That's disgusting!_

"I want this healthy looking girl! Come to daddy baby!" The Don exclaimed that had Aerith and Tifa's eyes widen. Cloud stared at the Don's forefinger which was pointed directly at his chest.

Tifa and Aerith would have laughed. Would have.


	9. Falling together

**Chapter nine**

 _Whu-ut?_ Was all Cloud could think of. Tifa and Aerith were in a complete shock.

 _I was hoping he would choose me!_ Tifa started to scream in her mind while Aerith was speechless that her boyfriend who cross dressed got chosen instead of her. Her pride as a woman was deeply hurt.

 _He"ll be chopped to pieces before he gets to rape me! What the hell have I gotten myself into?!_ Cloud was frantic on the inside but he was sporting his fake girly smile on the outside. _Well of course it's better to be me than Tifa or Aerith._

"You can have the other two!" The don suddenly said to his guards and he was talking about Aerith and Tifa.

 _WHAT?!_ The three of them exlcaimed deep within themselves.

 _No! No!_ Cloud was on overprotective mode while he stared at the two girls. Though he looked at Tifa more than he did with Aerith, which the latter noticed. He didn't get to see her worried look before they were dragged away and the double doors closed behind them. _NO! SHIT!_

"We're finally alone my sweet, come here pussycat, come to daddy!"

"Uummm..."

"You are so cute! I'm not getting tired looking at you! You like me too?"

"I... Yes of course."

"Do you really?! Or is there someone else besides me?"

"Only you..." He said again in his high pitched voice.

"What do you want to do now baby?" The Don asked Cloud as he lay in the bed like a whale. Cloud inwardly grimaced but spoke in his high pitch voice.

"Whatever you want daddy..." He wanted to kill someone so badly but he needed to endure this torture so he can get the bastard to talk about what he knows.

"Come here my little sweet! Oh yes oh yes! Come closer!" He said as Cloud took tiny steps towards the bed while his hands were held together in front of him. "So adorable! Like a doll!"

 _Shut the fuck up!_ Cloud thought angrily.

"Playing hard to get eh? That gets me more excited. Fufufu."

 _Fuck._

* * *

"Ooohhhhh such a fine woman. Oh yes." A guard hissed like a snake while he stared hungrily at Tifa's form. Tifa tried her best to smile.

"That's so sweet of you, lover boy." She inwardly shuddered at what she said. The guard grinned like a fool.

"I'll show you how sweet I am baby." He said as he started to unbuckle his belt while three more men behind him nodded their heads while they mutter 'yeah' with disgusting smirks on their faces.

 _I have to finish these guys so I can get Aerith! Hang on Aerith! I'm coming!_ Tifa thought as the guards slowly surrounded her. She gestured her fingers to two men to come near her and they happily obliged, and without warning, she held the sides of their heads and banged them together with a loud thud.

"What the fu-" The other guard didn't get to finish his words when Tifa held unto his shoulders, did a flip up in the air towards his back then threw him forcefully forward, the remaining guard was petrified and was screaming like little girl who saw a ghost as his companion flew towards him. They were both knocked out instantly. Tifa dusted herself before running towards the door while yelling for Aerith.

"Aerith! Aerith!"

"Tifa?! I'm in here!" A muffled voice sounded from the door she just passed through, she stopped running then stood in front of it.

"Get out of the door Aerith!" Then with that, she kicked the door sideways which torn it all to bits. She immediately saw a wide eyed Aerith but she dealt with the guards first. Doing a roundhouse kick for one guard then she jumped up then kicked upwards with both legs hitting two people at once, when she landed back down, a guard ran towards her then she manage to do a choke hold then sideways kick another one that made him fly away. Then she grabbed the guard she was holding by the armpit before she bent backwards, his head colliding with the concrete floor with a loud thud. She straightened up, then two more guards managed to stand up and the first one in the line was punched so hard it threw him backwards and collided with the man running behind him, both of them colliding with the wall which caused it to crack, concrete pieces flying everywhere.

"Come on Aerith!" Tifa yelled then she grabbed the still stunned flower girl and dragged her outside.

"How did you learn to fight like that?" She finally asked.

"Learned martial arts for years." She answered breathlessly.

"You think you can teach me?" Aerith asked again.

"I would love to Aerith." Tifa looked back then smiled. When they finally reached the Don's room, Tifa kicked the door open without warning, destroying it in the process, not knowing that Cloud was behind it because he was trying to get away from the Don, which made him fly towards the bed and landing on it face down, his baggy pants exposed due to his skirt being lifted upwards. Aerith's eyes widened while Tifa didn't move from her kicking position with a shocked expression. Don stared at Cloud's form then to Tifa's exposed black panties then back at Cloud again who was bolting up from the bed.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He asked.

"Oh, it's just my way of saying that I'm not interested in you because..." Cloud said as if nothing embarassing happened to him then he ripped his clothes off and threw away his tiara and wig. Don Corneo's eyes widened then he gasped.

"A MAN?!" He yelled. Tifa and Aerith ran inside and stood beside Cloud. "Is this an ambush?!"

"Tell us what you know and what you've been reporting to Shinra!" Tifa demanded.

"How did...? And why would I do that?!"

"Because if you don't..." She put her foot up in the edge of the bed. "I'll smash you to bits." Corneo jumped and shivered.

"Okay okay! I had my assistants find out where the man with the gun arm was! But it was what I was ordered to!"

"By who?" Cloud asked firmly.

"I can't tell you or I'll be killed!"

"If you don't say something..." Aerith said then put her feet up the bed as well. "I'll rip you off." Corneo jumped again then shrieked.

" It was Heidegger! Heidegger of Public Safety maintenance Department of Shinra!" He whined.

"Public safety maintenance?" Cloud repeated.

"What are they up to?! Talk NOW!" Tifa demanded.

"Because of you don't..." Cloud said then placed his foot on the bed. "I'll chop you off." Corneo jumped again then squealed.

"They...! They're planning to get rid of a group named AVALANCHE that I heard resides in sector 7 slums! They will crush them! You know! Literally!"

"What the fuck do you mean b-"

"The plate! They will destroy the support that holds it up to bring it down the slums! You know, to crush the whole sector!"

"WHAT?!" Tifa, Cloud and Aerith exclaimed.

"They're going to wipe out Sector 7?!" Tifa yelled. "Cloud! Can you come with me in Sector 7?" She asked the blonde who nodded.

"Of course Tifa."

"Wait!" Corneo stopped them as they made their way towards the door.

"Shut the fuck up!" Cloud exclaimed. Don Corneo stood up in front of the bed and gestured for them to get closer.

"I still have something to say." He said.

"This better be quick or I'll-" Cloud didn't get to finish his sentence and started to yell along with Tifa and Aerith's shrieks when they started to fall downwards from the hidden trap door that was at their feet.

A/N: Now before you gets pissed at me for making Cloud act like that, that scene between the Don and Cloud really happened like that, I just altered it a little and removed the part where Cloud moves forward and attempts to give the Don a kiss but backed away again, being caught by Tifa when she and Aerith barged in which made her ask: "Cloud... Were you really..." because it disturbed me as well. Lol.


	10. Butt cheek action

**Chapter 10**

President Shinra leans at his office table with hands intertwined in front of him, staring alternately at both Heidegger, head of Public Safety Maintenance department and Reeve Tuesti, head of Urban Development Department. The president lifted his intertwined hands with his elbows still on the table and rested his chin above it while looking expectantly at the two executives with a sinister smile on his face.

"How are the preparations going?" He asked while looking at Heidegger who threw his head back and started laughing. Reeve rolled his eyes discreetly.

"Excellent. Everything's smoothly done. I have assigned the Turks for this assignment." He said with a smirk.

"President, are we really going to do this? Just to destroy a terrorist group with a few members." Reeve asked with a frown.

"Why? You want to back out Reeve?" The president asked as he placed his hands back down the table, staring directly at Reeve.

"...No." Reeve answered back hesitantly. "But I'm been involved the building and running the City so that's wh-"

"There's no need to be emotional over this Tuesti. We don't want to hear your yapping about your personal problems!" Heidegger interjected then laughed, Reeve glared at him.

"The Mayor is against this." Reeve said. Heidegger raised an eyebrow at him.

"The Mayor? He does nothing but sit his fat ass on this building while he stuffed his face with brocolli and creme brulee and you call that a freaking mayor?" Then he laughed again which made Reeve roll his eyes, not hiding it this time and showing it to the world. "Now if you'll excuse me, Sir." Heidegger said before he turned to his heels and walked away with a smug look. Reeve clenched his fists while he followed the man with his eyes, his jaw tightening.

 _Soon..._ He thought, imagining how he was going to strangle Heidegger. He pursed his lips when he thought how large Heidegger is and while on the strangling process, he can be easily overpowered, Heidegger will roll him up like a ball to be thrown away from the city forever. He stared ahead in disappointment with eyes unseeing. The president raised his eyebrow at the dazed man in front of him.

"You look tired." The president said which made Reeve snap out of his daze and looked at the man. "You should take a couple of days off, go somewhere." Reeve stared at the President with a blank look before turning around and walking away.

 _I should probably do that and go to Costa del sol... It's been a while since I saw someone in a bikini._ Reeve thought glumly with a sigh. _An extra butt cheek action would be nice._

* * *

Cloud slowly sat up while he groaned, they had fallen down in Sector 6 sewers and he scrunched his nose in disgust of the horrid smell around him, it reminded it how he smelled when he was wondering homeless in the Midgar slums before he ended up in Seventh heaven. Then he moaned when he realized that his butt was back to its condition when he saw Tifa's panties before and fell.

 _Fuck. How can Tifa find my ass attractive if it's looking like hamburger meat?_ He thought, his mind still groggy and when he realized what he thought about, he held his blank look while he mentally beat himself.

"That bastard!" Tifa exclaimed suddenly making him jump. He stood up hastily to go over to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." She answered with a sigh. He stared at her for a while to see if she was really fine, she was dirty in places just like him, all he wanted to do at that moment was give her a warm bubble bath, in a tub filled with rubber chocobos and flower petals, with him in it, butt naked with his bottom back to its normal shape, all tight and sexy. Cloud shook his head to clear it from his perverted fantasies while mentally cursing every fiber of his being then turned to Aeris who was dusting her arms.

"Aerith, you alright?" He asked his 'girlfriend', feeling guilty that he wanted to take a bath with Tifa instead of her, as he approached her. Tifa felt jealous and looked away. Aerith wrapped her arms around him but Cloud hesitantly returned the hug, discreetly looking over at Tifa's direction on his right with a troubled look on his face, but he was relieved that she was looking away.

"I'm alright because you are here with me." Aerith said while she still held unto him. Tifa closed her eyes then sighed silently before turning back around with a bright smile on her face, but when she saw the two hugging, her heart cracked but decided to smile bigger to hide her pain. Cloud immediately let go of Aerith when Tifa turned around.

"I'm glad everyone's alright." She said with that still big smile, then she suddenly furrowed her brows. "Oh man, This is terrible!" She said in a frantic manner as she remembered what the Don told them before, her mood swing would have been funny if it wasn't of the situation.

"Tifa we-" Cloud stopped talking when they heard a loud growling sound which made them look around, looking for the source of the sound.

"Better come out because I'm not a mood today and I want to crush somebody's face! Come at me and I'll show you the feeling of being dead!" Tifa yelled while welcoming the threat with open arms, literally.

 _Better not get to her bad side._ Cloud thought while he looked around. He cursed inwardly when he realized that he had left his buster sword at Aerith's place before the started their 'Drag queen transformation' mission, or that's what Aerith called it anyway which irritated him to his core. But he was relieved that he had materia with him. "Aerith, just stay back alright?" He told his girlfriend who angrily stomped her foot.

"I'm not goin-"

"Aerith."

"Fine, Let me heal you atleast." She said then Cloud looked at her, he remembered that Aerith had healing powers and she had showed him before. He nodded his head to her in approval which made her smile. Tifa was still looking around then they heard the growl again. The a monster suddenly appeared from around the corner in front of them, it was bluish in color with a brown, furry lower half. It had big eyes and a snout like a pig's, two black horns are on top of it's head, it's mouth is open with a purple tongue rolling out of it. It has a furry tail with claws on the end of it.

 _What a disastrous looking thing._ Cloud thought with a mixture of irritation and pity. Tifa pulled out her red fingerless gloves from her exposed cleavage, momentarily distracting Cloud with wide eyes.

"I'm glad you could make it." Tifa said to the beast with a smirk while she put on her gloves, Cloud smirked as well he nodded his head at Tifa's direction like a pervert watching someone undress from a peephole and approving what he sees.

 _That's what I'm talking about baby._ He thought but he got surprised when Aerith smacked the back of his head while she widen her eyes threateningly at him. "Uhhhh..."

"Cloud!" Tifa yelled at him when the fiend turned around to hit them all with it's clawed tail, Cloud grabbed Aerith then jumped away while Tifa back flipped from it, both of them avoiding the attack. Cloud put Aerith down in a corner and told her to stay there. Then he went back to the beast where Tifa was already dealing powerful blows, she punched it's lower body four times then did a powerful sidekick, her heels digging unto it's flesh, then she jumped up and did an aerial roundhouse kick to it's face that threw it sideways and collided against the wall, pieces of concrete flying everywhere. That's when Cloud outstretched his right arm in front of him where it suddenly glowed red, a fire spell was released from his hand hitting the stunned beast square in the chest which made it growl in pain, but it quickly gained itself and stood up, it turned around to whip it's clawed tail towards them, Cloud managed to roll away but Tifa wasn't lucky and was thrown backwards, a small portion of it's claw ripped the flesh on the side of her waist.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled trying to ignore the image of Tifa's black panties that was exposed fully when she was thrown back then charged forward towards the beast to stop it from attacking Tifa again, he held his outstretched gloved palm on it's lower body then released another powerful fire spell that threw it backwards. Aerith on the other hand was running towards Tifa who was groaning while she clutched her bloody side. Aerith knelt down to Tifa's height on the ground then placed both her hands in front of her while she closed her eyes, then green light emitted from her and Tifa could visibly see and feel that her wound was closing, she raised her eyebrows in amazement then looked up at the flower girl when she was done.

"Thanks Aerith." She smiled while Aerith smiled back and without another word, she stood up and started to run towards the beast while she did her fierce battle cry, then she punched the beast powerfully so she can send him towards the wall and Cloud and her could corner it, she moved forward again to start dealing with it with a somersault, her feet colliding with it's chin when she back flipped then when she landed again at the ground, she charged forward to punch and kick it's lower body and face while Cloud continued to attack using his materia, Aerith would heal them if both if them we're hit by the thing. They managed to kill it and Cloud immediately went over to Tifa to check her injuries.

"Tifa, are you alright?" He asked her while she looked up at him.

"Yeah... And you?"

"I'm fine." He answered back and without realizing what he was doing, he unconsciously lifted his hand slowly to cup Tifa's cheek, but before he could do so, Aerith cleared her throat which made Cloud and Tifa look at her suddenly, the blonde pulled back his hand and felt guilty for his actions.

 _Dammit!_ He was getting tired of this complicated situation. Tifa looked down suddenly.

"Marlene... Barret... Everyone..." She said quietly and Cloud understood that she was already losing hope.

"Tifa, we still have time! We have to get everyone out before the plate falls!" Aerith said to reassure the brunette while trying to forget what Cloud was trying to do earlier. Tifa slowly nodded her head before looking up.

"Let's go then." Cloud told her with a reassuring smile which made her heart hammer like mad, then she returned the smile and before they knew it, Aerith was already ahead of them.

"Let's go now!' She yelled at the two who followed her from behind but before when Aerith went around the corner, Cloud grabbed Tifa's wrist then turned her around and gave her a tight hug that greatly widened her eyes.

 _Cloud...? Why...?_ She had noticed how he was acting strange and she was feeling hurt when he was leading her on like that while he has a girlfriend who was also her friend. But maybe she was just being concieted, maybe he was just trying to comfort her.

Then he hastily let her go before running after Aerith, leaving a dumbstruck Tifa behind. She stared ahead in shock, and her eyes teared up when she realized something from that last encounter.

That she was falling inlove with him more deeply than before.


	11. Don't spray it

**Chapter 11**

Cloud, Tifa and Aerith eventually found a way out of the sewers and hurriedly ran towards the latter's home to get Cloud's sword and for Aerith to change clothes. Tifa was getting restless because they know that the falling of the plate was already imminent and she couldn't stop thinking about Marlene.

"If we can catch the train we can get there on time." Tifa said as they continued to run towards the train station after coming from Aerith's house, they managed to sneak in and get everything they needed while Elmyra was still sleeping.

When they got to Sector 7, they saw a crowd of people gathered by a fence while they were all looking up, the three of them heard gun fire above. Tifa immediately knew what was going on and turned to Aerith and asked for her help.

"Aerith, please take Marlene somewhere safe as soon as you can!" Aerith didn't say another word and just nodded before she hurriedly ran towards the direction of the bar while Cloud and Tifa were already on their way towards the main pillar that supports the plate above. But on their way, they both saw Barret releasing a barrage of bullets above and fighting along with him was Wedge, Tifa screamed when the latter lost his balance and fell off the tower and landed near them.

"WEDGE!" Tifa exclaimed while she ran towards him then knelt on his side with Cloud beside her doing the same.

"Wedge! Are you alright?" Cloud asked with his eyes hardening. Wedge gave him a weak smile.

"Cloud... You... Remembered my name..." He grimaced. "I'm sorry I wasn't... Any help..." He trailed off then spoke again. "I was hoping that I... Could get to invite...you to... A karaoke contest..." He said weakly that had Cloud raising his eyebrow.

 _That was so random._ The blond thought. Then he grabbed Wedge's hand and held it to his chest that greatly surprised the man.

"Let's sing to our hearts content and see who's going to win." He said with eyes full of determination while he nodded his head once. If it wasn't for the situation, TIfa would have laughed out loud at that weird exchange. Wedge smiled brightly beofre he grimaced again then Cloud stood up.

"I'm going to help Barret." He said then ran to help Barret above. Tifa turned to the crowd.

"Hurry up and get away as far as you can from here! It's dangerous! GET OUT OF SECTOR 7 NOW!" She was trembling as her emotions were taking over, she looked down at Wedge who was breathing heavily. "I'll be right back..." She said then she followed Cloud to go above. Along the way, they found Jessie and Biggs, bady wounded and lying on the ground.

"Jessie! Biggs!" Tifa exclaimed and she didn't know whom to go first, Cloud went over to Biggs to check on him.

"Cloud... You still... Don't care about the planet...?"

"Not interested." He said flatly.

"Yeah..." Bigss laughed then grimaced from his side wound. "Still haven't changed. But I'm glad to have met you... Mr. SOLDIER 1st class... And you're still a man-whore..." He smiled weakly while Cloud chuckled.

"You're wounded. Just rest." Cloud said before he stood up. Tifa on the other hand is checking on Jessie who was having a coughing fit.

"Jessie... You're going to be fine..." TIfa reassured but she too wasn't convincing herself, Jessie was horribly wounded.

"Because... Of us... Many people... This is... punishment..." Then she coughed again.

"Don't talk and just rest. We're going to help Barret." Tifa said while Jessie nodded her head.

"Wait...!" Jessie stopped her when Tifa stood up and gave her a bag that was on her side, Tifa looked inside and saw that it was her clothes.

"Thank you Jessie..." Jessie was like that, she always thought of what others needed ahead of time and that's what everybody liked about her. Tifa hurriedly changed, hidden at a wall. Cloud ran ahead of Tifa while the latter followed later after changing to her normal clothes, she pulled on her gloves while she ran ahead, they reached the top where Barret was cursing to his hearts content, and the subject of his verbal abuse was none other than the red head, Reno, from a helicopter above them. Cloud's blood boiled like lava and started to pull out his buster sword.

"About fuckin' time you got 'ere!" Barret yelled at the two while Cloud glared at him.

"Don't take it out on us." Cloud said in monotone while stil in a fighting stance. Just then , The red head jumped out of the said helicopter while he stared at Cloud with a cocky grin on his face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn'-"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"How dare you talk to me that way yo!"

"Just who do you think you are?" Cloud yelled back, Barret wanted to roll his eyes.

"I'm Reno, and I'm a Turk, and I'm here to..." He didn't finish his sentence and ran over the control panel where he violently slammed a button then laughed while he threw his head back. "Mission accomplished yo!" He said then went running towards the helicopter again and jumped up the rope, then he looked down at Cloud and stuck his tongue out that had Cloud's eye to twitch.

"We have to disarm it now!" TIfa yelled at her two companions but Reno went back down again.

 _What an idiot._ Cloud thought.

"I can't let you do that, even if you are a very beautiful woman, I can't let you have your way baby." He said while smirking at Tifa, Cloud's vision went black at the red head's statement.

"Don't you DARE go near Tifa!" He spat the Reno who held both his hands up in surrender.

"Whoa! Easy there sister-" He was cut off when Cloud charged at him and swung his sword at the red head's direction, who evaded it with ease. Then Reno pulled out his night stick and began to attack to blond by swinging it and charging it's electricity before pushing it towards the blond but Cloud got away before he was electrocuted. Reno back flipped then looked at his watch. "Whoops, sorry, party's over!" Then he started running back up at the helicopter ropes then climbed up.

"Fucker!" Cloud yelled at the red head who just cackled when he finally reached the top. Tifa hurriedly went over the controls to check if she could disarm it.

"I can't! I don't know how to disarm this!" She exclaimed with Barret already beside her.

"IT'S A FUCKIN' TIME BOMB?!" He yelled with saliva spraying all over the control panel which had Cloud closing his eyes while he slowly wiped his face from the wet sensation, he happened to bend down to carefully check on the controls when Barret decided to have a spray fest, hitting the side of his face completely. Just then, another person in a suit with shoulder lenght black hair appeared from the helicopter with a wry smile on his face.

"You can't just disarm that bomb, even if you try..." He said flatly then a familiar lady in pink appeared beside him inside the helicopter. Tifa gasped.

"AERITH!"

"What are you going to do with Aerith?!" Cloud asked angrily at the Turk who just chuckled.

"Oh, I don't really know, But we were ordered to get our hands at the last remaining ancient." Cloud was confused about what he just said.

"Tifa! Don't worry! She's safe!" Aerith yelled before the man in the suit slapped her face that had Cloud's blood boiling.

"Aerith!" Cloud yelled again when they heard an explosion happen and the plate started to tremble, the helicopter was already making it's way out.

"We have to go now!" Tifa yelled at the too but they were too late, Cloud made his way towards Tifa and hugged her tight while they both fell back, Barret on the other hand covered himself as much as he can.

"FUCK!" Barret yelled on top of his lungs as the plate shook violently. Tifa couldn't help her tears as she burried her face on Cloud's chest while the blond held unto her for dear life.

"I'm here Teef..." He whispered to her ear before the plate started to fall downwards. She started to sob hard while she screamed while Cloud gripped her tighter as she thought of the three people she cared about that was going to be crushed helplessly below, and the innocent people that will be killed because of them.


	12. Bath time

**Chapter 12**

Cloud slowly opened his eyes then grimaced at the sudden pain in his head, he was lying down on a pile of debris. Then he felt someone beside him that made him look who it was, he bolted up when he saw that it was Tifa, and she was unconscious. He scooped her up from her shoulders and held her close to his chest.

"Tifa! Tifa!" He called for her but she didn't respond, he bit unto the tip of his gloves to remove in then placed the shaky hand towards her neck to check her pulse, he let out a sigh of relief when he felt one. His body was hurting all over but he didn't care, all he wanted was to make sure that Tifa was safe, he inspected her further to check any other grave injuries but there was not any, but there were scratches and bruises, just like him. He looked up when he heard someone yelling and cursing and he knew who it was. "Barret! Where are you?!" He yelled while he looked around.

"Spikey?! I'm here!" Barret yelled back, he sounded a little farther away from before, then he heard cracking sound of rocks and he knew that Barret was making his way to them. "Where are you spikey?!"

"Here!" Cloud yelled so Barret can follow his voice. After a few moments, he appeared.

"TIFA!" Barret frantically went over to them to get a closer look.

"She's unconscious, we need to get out of here."

"FUCK! WHY DOES THIS HAS TO HAPPEN! MARLENE! MY MARLENE! BIGGS! JESSIE! WEDGE! DAMN SHINRA! DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!" He started to yell on top of his lungs.

"Barret!"

"MARLENE!" then started releasing a barrage of bullets in the air while facing away from Tifa and Cloud.

"BARRET!"

Just then, Cloud felt Tifa stir in his arms and he gave a smile of relief when she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey..." He said sweetly.

"Cloud... What... Stop yelling..." She said weakly while Cloud gave out a low chuckle.

"You're going to be okay now... I'm here..."

"I'm glad you're okay Tifa." Barret said then he flopped down a debris he can sit on with his head down. "Marlene..." Tifa bolted up when she heard Barret then held her head at sudden pain, Cloud grabbed her again to settle her back down in his arms.

"Barret..." She said weakly. "Marlene.. She's safe..."

"What...?" Barret said slowly while he looked up at the martial artist.

"Aerith... She..." Tifa coughed. "She told me before... She was taken that... Marlene is safe..."

"Really...?"

"Y-Yeah... So don't... worry... alright..." She trailed off then slowly closed her eyes that had both Cloud and Barret panicking.

"Tifa! TIFA!" Cloud frantically shook her but stopped when he heard a sob escape from her. "Tifa...?"

"Biggs... Wedge... Jessie..." Then she went limp.

"Tifa!" Cloud checked her pulse again then closed his eyes tight when he felt that she was still alive but tears were forming in his eyes from fear. The fear of losing Tifa again was just too much for him. He discreetly wiped his eyes with his arm, hoping that Barret didn't see him, but he did, and the big man's face softened at the display of affection from the cold and arrogant ex-SOLDIER.

"Let's go to Aerith's house, it's probably where she took Marlene..." Cloud said with his voice cracking, then he grabbed his glove then scooped Tifa from behind the knees and nape then carried her bridal style. Barret followed him afterwards with his eyes unseeing, he was glad that Marlene was safe. But their three other friends weren't so lucky.

"They killed so many people just to get to us..." He said quietly but Cloud didn't respond, he was still very worried for Tifa, and Aerith.

"What about Aerith, man? Are we going to help her?" Barret asked the blond.

"Yeah... But we have to make sure that Tifa is okay first, and there's something that I want to know."

"Which is?"

"About the ancients." Then the moment Cloud said that, his vision blurred then blackened that made him fall into his knees and let go of Tifa while he held both sides of his head.

"CLOUD! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" Barret yelled as he scooped Tifa up. "SPIKEY!"

 _The blood of the ancients... It runs through my veins... I am... The rightful heir of this planet..._

Cloud's eyes snapped open then hardened when he heard the voice in his head, and he knows that voice too well. Images of a silver haired man played rapidly in his mind, the last one being him walking away while being surrounded by flames. Cloud gasped then started a coughing fit while he held his fist to his chest.

"Oi! Spike!" Barret yelled again that had him looking up while he was still in his knees, then he slowly stood up and dusted himself casually to cover his disturbed condition. _Sephiroth... That was him... But why...?_

"OI!"

"I just choked." Cloud said flatly.

"That didn't look like chokin' to me, you looked you we're already goin' looney as fuck, holdin' the sides of yo' head and shit."He told the blond who was grabbing Tifa from him. Cloud sneered at the larger man.

"Shut it."

"Why you!" Then Cloud started walking away without saying another word. He looked down at Tifa and stared at her beautiful, peaceful face. _You'll be alright Teef..._ Then he grimaced and closed his eyes tight _. Sorry I dropped you like that._

* * *

When they finally reached Aerith's house, Elmyra greeted them at the door and instantly panicked when she saw Tifa's unconscious form.

"Oh my goodness! Come inside! Hurry!" She side stepped to let Cloud and Barret inside. "Follow me." She said as she made her way upstairs.

"Excuse me, is Marlene here?" Barret immediately asked which made Elmyra stop from her tracks.

"Yes, she's here, she's upstairs sleeping."

"Thank goodness." Barret said with a sigh while he bowed his head. "I'll stay here." Barret said then glumly looked around, he will see Marlene later when he's no longer dirty. Cloud followed Elmyra up the stairs and went straight to the guest room where he stayed before. He could hear Elmyra in the bathroom beside the room.

"Cloud, put her on the tub so I can clean her up, you do the same later alright?" She said then he did what he was told and carefully put down Tifa. He stared at her form for a few more seconds, Elmyra was quite curious at how he looks at the beautiful brunette.

"Aerith... She..." Cloud spoke.

"I know... They took her from here." Cloud looked at the older woman.

"They were here?"

"Yes... But let's talk about it after you get cleaned up. You can use the bathroom down stairs, I hope the spare clothes would fit your friend. She thought about how large Barret was and imagined the shirt being ripped in places in his body when he wore it. She giggled and it was fitting at the terrible situation at all. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"I uhh.. Okay... Downstairs..." Cloud said then looked over at Tifa again before he went out. He went ver to the guest room and took the spare towels and clothes that Elmyra prepared for them. _It'll be nice if we could take a nice bubble bath together..._ He thought sadly while slowly walked away from paradise, which is taking a bath with Tifa's unconscious form, his back hunched and his eyes were unseeing as he thought of how sick his fantasy was. _What's wrong with me?_ He physically slapped himself which Barret saw, who shook his head.

"Fucker's gone coo-coo already, I knew it." He said which made Cloud roll his eyes.

"Shut your trap Barret. And watch your mouth at this house, do you want us to be kicked out?" Cloud said firmly.

"Sorry..." He paused. "But you're still a crazy fucker." Barret said then Cloud sneered at him. The blond lifted his arm and smelled his arm pit, Barret gave him a perplexed look.

"Bath time." He said then walked away with a towel and some clothes, but turned around and threw Barret's spare ones who caught it before walking away again, Barret followed the blond with his eyes with a still perplexed look. Then he examined his clothes and lifted the shirt up. _How am I gonna fit me self in this?_ He thought sadly.

They were all seated in the dining table, except for Tifa, who was in the guest room, after they were all cleaned up, Elmyra took their clothes at her washer so they are wearing some spare clothes. Elmyra couldn't help but smirk at how Barret looked and the shirt had ripped all the way down on his back. Cloud had been chuckling non stop as he ate, while Barret had been glaring at him, how he managed to even wear it was still a mystery. Elmyra was having tea while Cloud and Barret were eating, munching on their food like stray dogs that hasn't eaten in weeks.

 _A mother's home cooking is the best!_ Cloud thought, his teenager self back in his mind.

"About you're question, Cloud, they were here and took Aerith with them, she willingly came with them because they threatened that they will harm Marlene, so she went with them in exchanged for the child's safety."

"I'm so sorry... Marlene, she's my daughter... And..." Barret apologized with his head down.

"You're her father? I just don't understand why you would leave a child alone like that?" She said like she was scolding a young boy. And did act like a young boy who was caught stealing a cookie as he sunk further in his chair in shame.

"Yeah, I know... I wanted to be with her most of the time, but I also had to figh', the planet's slowly dyin' and if I don' do somethin'-"

"I think I know what you're saying... You just want the best for your little girl."

"Exactly..." Barret said quietly. Cloud put down his spoon and burped out loud, totally destroying the moment which had both Elmyra and Barret look at him, the latter had a mixture of disgust and irritation on his face.

"Sorry-"

"Back to the topic..." Barret interjected while narrowing his eyes at the blond.

"Why was Shinra after Aerith to begin with?" Cloud finally asked as if he did nothing to embarrass himself. Elmyra sighed as she looked down at her tea then looked up again to begin her story.


End file.
